Nathaniel Hawthorne: Letter to Monckton Milnes He [Thoreau] despises the world, and
all that it has to offer, and, like other humorists, is an intolerable bore. I shall cause
it to be known to him that you sat up till two o’clock reading his book; and he will
pretend that it is of no consequence, but will never forget it.... he is not an agreeable
person, and in his presence one feels ashamed of having any money, or a house to live in,
or so much as two coats to wear, or having written a book that the public will
read—his own mode of life being so unsparing a criticism on all other modes, such as
the world approves. |